Terra Nova

On Monday, September 26, 2011, at 8 PM EDT, we saw the two-hour premiere of Terra Nova. The Science Fiction series, filmed in Australia, has been billed as the best new offering of the Fall 2011 TV season. It is about pioneers going back in time 85 million years to an alternate earth where they can colonize and do things right so to avoid the ecological disaster they have fled in modern Earth’s 22 century.



I should give fair warning that I am a dinosaur fan, so I’m prejudiced in favor of any dinosaur movie… I eagerly watched the first episode. I enjoyed it. So I looked at the charts associated with the series and expected that there would be a pronounced Aries theme, as Aries is the sign of pioneering and Uranus (the planet of science and technology, television!) is in Aries. But I was surprised. Here is what I found.

The chart for the series itself, based upon its premiere data above, has a Midheaven of 19° Capricorn, Pallas in Capricorn in the 10th house, and a 9th house Pluto in Capricorn as the most elevated planet. Jupiter in Taurus conjuncts the Ascendant and trines Pluto, which indicates the earth theme, “New Earth,” the expectations for popularity, and the high costs of production—two to three times the production costs for alternate television shows.



The series’s concept originator and executive producer is Kelly Marcel, born in London on 10 January 1974 with no time given. She has a quadruple Capricorn conjunction of Juno (19), Sun (19), Mercury (20) and Ceres (23). Not to be overlooked is a wide conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the Science Fiction loving sign Aquarius. Upon seeing her chart I realized that in addition to the theme of pioneering, or Uranus in Aries, we had the theme of history, the Capricorn planets, including Pluto in Capricorn which will mean deep history, DNA history, the history of life.

The premiere of Terra Nova reminded me of two Science Fiction novels of historic importance. First to come to mind was Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer. It is about a time traveler who vacations in non-human populated eras. Laumer, born 09 June 1925 at 3:30 am in Syracuse New York, has a ninth house Jupiter-Moon conjunction at 21 and 22 degrees Capricorn, again repeating the theme of history and ancient times. In Laumer’s case, he has three planets in Cancer opposing the Capricorn planets: Venus, Pluto and Mars. Together, Cancer and Capricorn are the signs associated with family and history. The Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn in the 9th house is an indication of popularity and success in writing about times past!

Although time travel was not one of his major themes, survival was of crucial importance to science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. His juvenile novel, Tunnels in the Sky, has several elements in common with Terra Nova: the mechanism for transfer of people, the cutting off of contact, and the need to survive in an alien environment. Heinlein was born 07 July 1907 in Butler, Missouri, with no time given. I’m using a noon time for this discussion. Heinlein has a Uranus-Mars conjunction at 10 and 13 Capricorn in the fourth house, with a loaded tenth house which has Neptune, Sun, Jupiter, North Node and Ceres in Cancer—Jupiter at 20°!—and Mercury in Leo. Heinlein was the undisputed star of the popularization of Science Fiction as a genre.

What will be the future of Terra Nova? I am troubled by several things in the chart. First, most TV premieres have planets in the fifth house of entertainment. This one has no planets in the fifth house, but instead five planets, an asteroid and the Vertex in the sixth house of work and labor disputes. Further, we have an exact Mars-Pluto quincunx, suggesting problems with accidents, fights or violence. I wonder if this promising series will be around for long enough to make its mark on history.

Lalia Wilson